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i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. #' 



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^REYOLT OF THE WOYS. 



REPEINTED FROM THE PRINCETON REVIEW, 
JANUAEY, 1858. 

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With Additional Notes. 



NEW YORK: 

PRINTED BY EDWARD O.JENKINS, 

No. 26 Feankpoet Street. 

1858. 



THE REYOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 



Art. II. — The Friend of India: Serampore, 1857. 
The Mofussilite : Agra, 1857. 

The year 1857 will be henceforth known as the year of the 
Sepoy Revolt. It was the most striking event of the year iu 
the eastern world, and no event of the year in any part of the 
world has been of deeper interest in the eyes of thoughtful 
men. This revolt, therefore, with its kindred topics, may well 
receive our consideration in this Review. 

A detailed narrative of this remarkable mutiny will not be 
expected in our pages. The distressing particulars have filled 
our newspapers, and though presented in a fragmentary form, 
have doubtless conveyed a correct general idea of what has 
taken place. The journals whose titles are given above, may 
be consulted by those who wish to see how these events ap- 
peared to intelligent observers on the ground. The Friend of 
India A\dll be found to contain a weekly record of these events, 
the more satisfactory, because this journal has the highest 
reputation for its spirited summaries of news, and its able dis- 
cussions of all Indian questions. ■ 

The British have held their possessions in India by the 
power of four separate armies : the European, numbering some 
30,000 soldiers, who are stationed in detachments in all parts 
of the country ; the Madras army, and the Bombay army, 
composed of native soldiers under European officers from the 
ensign upwards, and occupying posts in the south and west 
of India, in the Presidencies or civil divisions of the country 
bearing the names respectively of these cities ; and the Bengal 
army that Avas, having now almost melted away, not before 
the face of an enemy, but in revolt from its too confiding 
friends. This army was composed of native soldiers and Eng- 
lish officers, like the armies of Madras and Bombay, but en- 



4 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

I'olled as many men as both the others ; all three numbering 
some 250,000. The Bengal army, though chiefly recruited 
from two districts, and from but a few classes, was stationed 
in regiments at many places, from Burmah to the borders of 
xlfghanistan, thus occupying the immense country known as 
north and north-west India. A large portion of this army 
has risen in open revolt against their of&cers and the govern- 
ment ; nearly as large a portion has been disarmed, through 
fear of their following the bad example of their comrades ; 
leaving but a few regiments still on duty, and most of these 
were looked upon with distrust. So vast a revolt of well or- 
ganized troops has not before occurred in any part of the world. 

On the terrible deeds of the Sepoys — their treachery, their 
murder of their officers, their savage cruelty to helpless women 
and children, their brutal licentiousness, their setting free the 
inmates of the prisons — criminals of the deepest, dye, their 
plundering of private property, both of Europeans and their 
own countrymen — on all this we have no heart to dwell. It 
makes one of the darkest pages in the history of our race. The 
mere reading of the details in the newspapers has made men 
sick at heart and chilled their blood. Alas ! the agony of 
those who had to face this demon-like outbreak, and who fell 
before its wrath ! The awful horrors of this revolt show ns 
the real character of heathenism and Mohammedanism, when 
the restraints of Providence are taken off. These are the le- 
gitimate fi'uits of a religion, which ranks an unmentionable 
emblem of lust and a patroness of murder among the deities 
to be daily worshipped, and of a still fiercer religion which 
accounts the sword as the best argument. 

Before proceeding to consider some of the causes of this 
revolt, we may advert to the conflicting opinions expressed by 
different writers concerning its origin and its extent. These 
opinions are often quite irreconcilable, and they are not seldom 
set forth with a positive tone that admits of but one reply. 
Writers, supposed from their position to be competent judges, 
are to be found on both sides of every question. Undoubted- 
ly this is owing in many cases to simple ignorance, and its pre- 
sumption is astounding. In cases not a few, it is owing to a 



^ 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 5 

reliance being placed on a vague general idea, rather than on 
thorough study and knowledge of the subject. Let us cite 
two or three examples, taken from respectable publications. 
One of our leading daily journals of commerce, in an elabor- 
ate argument to prove that the British would have great dif- 
ficulty in subduing the revolted soldiers, alleged that these 
soldiers were under the leadership of a commanding mind, 
and gave as a proof, their having taken possession of some 
places on the Jumna, in order to have the best advantages for 
the transmission of troops and military stores ; which is about 
the same thing as to argue that Greneral Jackson would have 
seized some towns on the Susquehanna for similar purposes, 
while a navigable river like the Hudson or the Ohio was 
equally or more within his reach. And a weekly "journal of 
civilization," published by one of our best known houses) 
gravely tells its readers of missionaries having bought up na- 
tive children at two or three rupees apiece, as one of the cau- 
ses of the insurrection ; as if the benevolent labours of tract 
distributors in the Five Points, in providing homes for a few 
orphans, could stir up the soldiers on Governor's Island to 
murder their officers, and then march to Washington to de- 
molish the government. The same journal contains a strik- 
ing map of India, which places Cawnpore at the junction of 
the Ganges and Jumna, and Calcutta on a grand Island! 
Still graver mistakes might be pointed out in some of our re- 
ligious journals, some of which will be corrected in the sequel 
of this article. 

It is really a difficult matter to acquire a thorough know- 
ledge of the internal state of any country, and especially of 
a country far distant and Asiatic. Patient and continued 
study is indispensable. Foreigners seldom learn to appreciate 
the real state of the case until alter many years' observation. 
These truisms need to be remembered. How justly do we 
complain of the erroneous representations of many foreign 
writers concerning our own country, even when we cannot 
bring against them the charge of prejudice or misrepresenta- 
tion. Concerning matters in India, as in our own country, 
there are unhappily too many writers who have published 



6 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

their opinions to the world after a most superficial acquaint- 
ance with the subject. Others, especially in England, have 
expressed their opinions in the heat of party conflicts, or 
under the bias of personal prejudice. There have been Euro- 
peans in India who were wedded to some theory — very often 
to the idea, which these Sepoy outrages have for ever explo- 
ded, that the Hindus are a mild and nearly perfect people, 
whose gentle manners ought not to be disturbed by fanatical 
Christians, and whose venerable institutions ought not to be 
touched by the profane hand of European rulers. These " Old 
Indians" are often indignant at the oppression of the Hindus 
by the British; one of them, a judge of high grade, resign, 
ed the service and went home in disgust, because he was not 
allowed officially to patronize idolatrous processions and kin- 
dred abominations. Widely differing from this class is found 
a host of agitators, who declaim with equal warmth against 
the oppression of the poor Hindus, because they are not per- 
mitted to enjoy all the privileges of their fellow subjects in 
England, including, we suppose, the right of suffrage and of 
voting by ballot. Thus extremes ever meet. Some of the 
foreigners in India personally would in any community be 
called bad men, and their opinions are after their own image- 
Others still are weak men, incapable of forming a just or dis- 
criminating opinion on any subject; and yet because they 
have lived in the countrj^, they feel called upon to express 
oracular opinions, like an old Bombay correspondent of The 
Tiraes^ who saw the missionaries at the bottom of all the Sepoy 
troubles. Letters have been written by others, which Averc 
penned under a degree of excitement little short of panic, and 
the worst side of every incident would naturally be seized by 
them as true. "We can well sympathize with the glpomy feel- 
ings of men writing under the shadow of such colossal disas- 
ters. Leaving India and landing in England, we find party 
strife as violent and unscrupulous as in our own country ; the 
misrule of India is a topic as much dwelt upon, and as little 
understood by many, as our own question of slavery. The 
Outs hope to succeed the Ins^ by pathetic declamation about 
the wrongs of the Hindus. An Ellcnborough can misuse his 



THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 7 

seat in Parliament, to do injury to tlie party in power, with 
as little scruple as lie used his high office in India to show re- 
spect to Hinduism, and to degrade his own religion. Eeligi- 
ous newspapers, so called, are sometimes marked by the vio- 
lence that characterizes political discussions; it is easy to 
prove from their columns that the government of India by 
the British has been all wrong and bad from the beginning, 
and that it never was worse than at the present time. Have 
we not the same thing nearer home ? Who could speak with 
confidence, a year ago, of the state of things in Kansas? 
Taking some even of the religious newspapers as authorities, 
what must foreigners have thought of the character of our 
government, our people, or our Christianity ? It would be 
an easy but thankless task to quote long columns of apparent 
facts and forcible arguments, to show that there never was 
such a misgoverned, oppression-inflicting and oppression-en- 
during people as ourselves — though we knew it not ! 

All this notwithstanding, there is ample testimon}'' that is 
trustworthy concerning India and its vexed questions. Some 
of the questions in the relations between the Hindus and the 
British are of a profound nature, and deserve long and earnest 
study. The expediency of changing the tenure of real estate, 
so as to vest it in personal ownership, among a people who 
have from time beyond memory or history looked upon the 
government as the great proprietor; the collection of govern- 
ment revenue among a people skillful in all the arts of conceal- 
ment and fraud ; the administration of justice among a j^eople 
j-adically corrupt, in a country where oaths are without virtue, 
and human life is of little value — these are subjects not to be 
disposed of in a few flippant paragraphs of a newspaper 
leader ; and we shall certainly not venture to express an opin- 
ion concerning them in this place, though they require to be 
understood by those who would rightly appreciate the charac- 
ter of the British rule in India. There are other and numer- 
ous topics, however, which are directly connected with the 
Sepoy revolt, concerning which it is quite practicable to form 
a correct opinion ; to some of these we shall now invite the 
attention of our readers. 



8 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

We meet at tlie outset the theory of the Sepoy mutiny which 
regards its proportions as national and not military. It is a 
revolution, we have been told, or at the very least an insur- 
rection which embraces large numbers of the people as well 
as of the soldiers. This opinion has been expressed by per- 
sons to whose judgment, if formed in the view of all the facts, 
much weight should be given. Some of the missionaries in 
that country, and among them one of the most eminent, have 
spoken in this way. 

The merits of this " national" theory of the revolt may be 
summarily tested. Suppose it to be true, how long could the 
few thousands of Europeans stand before all the millions of 
India? One of the missionaries has well remarked, that the 
people of India have but to throw their shoes on the foreign" 
ers, in order to bury them out of sight! But as this view of 
the revolt has been earnestly advocated by respectable men, 
it is entitled to receive a more extended examination. 

The common proofs of this opinion, indeed the only proofs 
of much weight, are two — first, that the people of India have 
no affection for the British ; and next, certain instances of hos- 
tile treatment of fugitive Europeans by the natives within the 
last few months. The latter we esteem as of but little import- 
ance. There are villagers enough in India, as in any heathen 
country, who would plunder defenceless travellers if they 
dared, and would kill them too, to prevent their telling tales. 
There are many bad men in most Hindu towns, as in our 
own large cities, who are ready to hail a time of disturbance 
as a harvest season to themselves. In the absence of the 
strong arm of government, the wonder is not that some out- 
rages have been perpetrated by the common people; rather, 
we have been surprised that the essentially depraved nature 
of the Hindus has not been displayed in acts of violence more 
numerous and appalling. We account for the disorder and 
crime which have been committed by classes distinct from the 
Sepoys and their rabble followers, on the simple but broad 
ground of their heathenism. 

The main question here concerns the general state of feeling 
among the natives of India towards their foreign rulers. It 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 9 

must be conceded, we believe, that there is little affection for 
the British among their eastern subjects. It seems to be im- 
possible that there should be, until Christianity prevails. 
The difference of race, of social customs, and of religion, is 
nowhere more strongly marked than between the white and 
the coloured inhabitants of this country. The two peoples 
never meet as families, the tender sympathies of woman in. 
social or pure domestic ties do not bind them together. Not 
that any repugnance between them exists, as between the 
white and the coloured inhabitants of our own land; but the 
causes of separation are general, and such as are not likely 
to give way until the spirit of the Gospel fuses their hearts 
in a common mould. Then, we see no reason to suppose 
that the most intimate relations may not subsist between the 
native and the European, without loss of social position on 
either side: There has been, moreover, in far too many 
instances, an ill-considered, overbearing, and sometimes un- 
manly treatment of the natives, which has borne its legitimate 
fruit. There are, besides, certain families and their adherents, 
connected with former reigning houses, who cherish their 
"grievance," though they find little sympathy from the mas- 
ses. And there is the Mohammedan element of th« popula- 
tion, sighing for the restoration of Islamism. There are also 
many whose interests have been injured by serious errors in. 
the legislative or the administrative measures of the govern- 
ment. And there are the poor villagers, who are at times 
wasted by the march of an army, or the progress of the Gov- 
ernor-General's camp, of whose sufferings Sir Charles Napier 
takes such just notice ; though the cause of their sufferings is 
not the one which he leaves his correspondent to infer — the 
oppression of the English powers that be, but the iniquity of 
the native officials. These native agents refuse to pay over 
to the villager the price of his grass and barley without large 
reduction, and at the same time contrive to make it impossi- 
ble for the poor man to carry his complaint to the "Sahib." 
This enumeration will nearly exhibit the strength of anti- 
British feeling in India. And it is worthy of note that in 
some of these cases, the natives themselves would not expect 



10 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

to gain anything by a change of rulers. The poor villager 
would fare worse than he does under the " Company Sahib," 
as to receiving a just compensation for his services. 

On the other side, there are commanding reasons and facts 
to be considered. The Hindus are a shrewd, sagacious people 
in all things affecting their personal and pecuniary interests. 
They can very well appreciate the advantage of living under 
law, as compared with living under lawless despotism. They 
are keenly alive to the chances of accumulating property and 
of its safe possession. It is said the Jews cannot compete witb 
the bazar dealers of Calcutta, though here in Yankee-land 
they take possession of Chatham street. No people, moreover, 
are more sensitive than the Hindus to the honour of their 
families, keeping their females in the strictest seclusion. How 
could it be otherwise than that such a people would prefer a 
settled, and in the main equitable government like that of the 
British, to the state of things which always exists under native 
or Musalman rulers? The last old king of the Punjab had 
in his harem hundreds of the most beautiful women in his 
country, and their number was increased by the forcible addi- 
tion of every young woman of superior beauty within his 
reach. If one of his subjects, by industry, skill, or enterprise, 
acquired some property, he soon learned that his gains must 
be shared by his rulers, petty and great, until all that remain- 
ed was not worth contending for. The illustrations are num- 
berless. Now, law reigns in the Punjab, as elsewhere, to the 
infinite advantage of nine-tenths of the people. The law is 
imperfectly administered, indeed, and thereby many cases of 
oppression occur, and many criminals escape deserved punish- 
ment. Of this, the people bitterly complain, oftentimes ;- but 
they see, what English and American declaimers against the 
oppressions of the present government do not seem to be 
aware of, that these cases of abuse of power are nearly always 
to be laid to the charge of the native officials, or of the state 
of society where any number of witnesses can be hired in the 
next bazar for sixpence each, to swear the most solemn oaths. 
But law imperfectly administered is nevertheless to be prefer- 
red to no law, and this the Hindus well understand. We 

/ 



THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 11 

might easily infer, therefore, that if the Hindus do not like 
the British, they are at least far enough from hating them to 
such a degree as to wish for their expulsion from the country. 

Signal examples can be given to show the true state of na- 
tive feeling, one of which ^\e will here relate. At one of the 
missionary stations of our Church in Upper India, a native 
chief was in power when the missionary first visited his city, 
which then contained a population of sixteen thousand souls. 
Soon afterwards the old chief died, and left no heirs. His 
principalit}^, according to native usage, escheated to the Brit- 
ish ; if his town had been on the other side of the Sutlej, it 
would have fallen in like manner to the miserable old king 
referred to above. British rule was set up, the reign of law 
commenced, people from neighbouring districts still under na- 
tive rulers removed to this town, and in a few years its popu- 
lation was numbered at nearly eighty thousand souls. Facts 
like this confute whole pages of declamation. We shall not 
pursue the argument as to this matter, but may simply state 
our conviction, formed after carefully examining the accounts 
of the recent disturbances, that the Hindus generally have 
taken but little part in them. The farmers, mechanics, shop- 
keepers, the industrial classes generally, with Mohammedan 
exceptions, are not found in the train of the Sepoys. On the 
contrary, these classes have been plundered in man^^ instances 
by the revolted troops; and in still more, their daily occupa- 
tions, and especially the labours of the field, have been so 
much interrupted, that extreme suff'ering is to be apprehend- 
ed as one of the results of the mutiny. It is sad to think 
that this will be a matter of indifference to these heathen and 
Mohammedan soldiers ; they will care nothing at all for the 
distress which impending famine will bring on scores of thou- 
sands of their countiymen. We trust their Christian rulers 
may be able to devise some measures for their relief. 

Adopting the theory which the foregoing remarks refute, 
some of the newspapers, both in Ireland and this country, 
have set the atrocities and brutalities of the revolted soldiers 
to the account of national hatred, repaying in kind the wrongs 
inflicted on the Hindus by their present rulers. The theory 



12 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

on wliicli tliis atrocious charge is made having no triitTi to 
rest "upon, the charge itself might be summarily dismissed 
from court. But it has been made too boldly, to be ignored- 
It will soon appear that we do not blindly approve of every- 
thing in the policy of the British government in the East ; 
nor do we doubt that examples of personal iniquity and wrong- 
doing in the intercourse of Europeans with the Hindus can 
be brought forward. But if there is anything in the history 
of British proceedings in India that gives even a pretext for 
the allegation in question, it has altogether escaped our read- 
ing. Whatever individual cases of license or of violence may 
be cited — and it would be strange indeed if nona should occur 
among so many thousand Europeans, living in a country 
where moral restraints are few and weak ; (have we not reason 
to blush for many such in our own land?) it is nevertheless 
true beyond question, that for nearly a generation past, the 
policy of the British government in India has been liberal 
and humane ; while the character and conduct of its official 
agents, in the civil and military services, will bear a very fa- 
vourable comparison with that of our own countrymen in the 
same walks of life. We have no sympathy with the tone of 
disparagement which some have chosen to employ towards a 
noble people in the time of their reverses ; and we repudiate 
as groundless, nay, as violating one of the holy commandments, 
the allegation that the Hindus have, been merely paying oft' 
their debts to the British in their own coin. This charge is 
in the first place false ; and in the next, it is Avithout reason. 
It assumes that the Sepoj^s have acted from a sense of nation- 
al grievance, whereas the^j were never oppressed, never ilk 
treated, but on the contrary, always dealt with as a favoured 
and even a petted class ; and it is further Avithout reason, be- 
cause it ignores the real cause of these dreadful atrocities. 
These have their reason in the unfathomable depths of human 
depravity, Avhen unrestrained by Divine Providence, and un- 
enlightened by the gospel. It is pure heathenism and pure 
Islamism that we behold Avith horror in these Sepoy outrages.* 

* Most of our respectable newspapers, while not hesitating to censure 
some tilings in the British rule in India, have yet expressed a genei'ona 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 13 

We leave tliis painful topic, after adding, tliat raan}^ of the 
mistakes wliich. are made by those who treat of the causes of 
the Indian revolt, are made in this same way — ^by forgetting 
the real character of the Hindus. They are an ignorant, de- 
praved, and heathen people ; and yet both English and Ameri- 
can writers speak of them as if they could be governed on 
the same principles and in the same way as British subjects 
or American citizens. A greater mistake it would be difficult 
to make ; and our meaning will be clearer to most of our 
readers, when we say that the coloured people of this countr)", 
free and bond, are a hundred-fold better prepared for self- 
government than are the great mass of the Hindus. 

We have dwelt somewhat long on this subject, because of 
prevalent mistakes concerning it, and chiefly because the mea- 
sures to be pursued hereafter in India depend on a riglit view 
of this point. The statesmen of Great Britain, and the Chris- 
tian people of every land, must seek to know with reasonable 
certainty what is the disposition of the natives of India to- 
wards their present rulers. The British could not long remain 
in that country, neither could the work of Christian missions 
be carried on there much longer, if the masses of the people 
shared in the spirit which has actuated the revolted Sepoys.* 

sympathy with the men of our own race in this unprecedented conflict. 
What is known as the religious press has been generally marked by candour 
and truth, in its comments on India affairs. Out of some thirty weekly and 
monthly religious publications that we have seen regularly, of the Baptist, 
Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and other denominations, 
including nearly all of the Old and New School churches, we have observed 
but two that have taken strong anti-English ground on the Sepoy mutiny. 
One of these, a monthly Abolitionist journal, is severe in its censures of the 
British in India ; but the justice of its views may be easily tested by its 
further remarks concerning an oppressed race nearer home, of whom it 
predicts a similar up-rising. 

The flags on the City Hall, the shipping in the harbour, &c., in New York 
were hoisted at half-mast on the 27th of January, to honor the memory of the 
illustrious Havelock — a tribute of respect never before paid to a foreign 
general. It was a striking proof of the deep feeling Vv^ith which our people 
have witnessed the conflict in India. Havelock stood in the popular view for 
the men, women, and children of our race in their unequalled sufierings, 
and in their triumph over the fiend-like Nana-Sahibs of the Sepoys. 

* The mutiny has been ascribed to misgovernraent, as its sole cause, — to 



14 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

In tlie earlier days of the mutiny, it was a frequent charge, 
that the labours of the missionaries were its immediate, if not 
its main cause. By their proselyting efforts, and their expo- 
sure of the native religious systems, we Avere told, they had 
awakened a vindictive feeling among the people, which noAv 
sought to quench its rage in blood. Facts and proofis abund- 
ant have exploded this theory of the outbreak; and have 
shown besides, that the missionaries enjoy more of the confi- 
dence of the Hindu part of the population, the seven eighths 
of the whole, than any other class of foreigners. The natives 
give them the credit of being sincere and good men. As in 
the days of Schwartz, so it has occurred again, within a few 
months, that a missionary was able to render essential service 
to his countrymen in procuring needful supplies, when the 
officers of government were unable to obtain them. Few of 
the missionary stations were molested as raissioiiary ; a native 
ordained missionary of our Church, and the native teacher, 
with their church and school, all well known to the dwellers 
at Jalandar, were allowed to remain in peace, when three regi- 

misgovernment as involving the oppression of the natives, and causing wide- 
spread distress amongst them. And the example of the ryots, or field- 
labourers of Bengal, as referred to by the Calcutta missionaries in their 
Memorial to the government, is brought forward as the proof. There can 
be no doubt as to the sufferings of the ryots, but it is owing chiefly to their 
being so largely at the mercy of the zemindars or landholders ; and this 
again is owing to a well-intended but mistaken measure adopted by the 
government more than half a century ago, the object of which was to create 
a body of native lauded proprietors, who might be expected to feel some 
interest in the prosperity of the country. But the intense selfishness of the 
heathen was not taken into the account, and the practical result has been 
the creation and protection by law of a body of unmitigated despots on a 
small scale. This great mistake was perceived long ago, and it must be 
corrected ; l)ut it is no easy matter to retrieve such an error in a heathen 
country, unless indeed the British authorities would act with as little regard 
to personal rights as v/ould be done by purely Asiatic rulers. The tenure 
of land in the territories subjected to the East India Company within the 
lust twenly-fivc years is arranged in a better way ; but the subject is one 
(if difficulty. 

We think there is some reason for the charge that misgovernmeut produced 
the revolt, so far as the Sepoys were concerned ; not in their being oppressed, 
l>nt just the opposite, in their being " spoiled by kindness," and too blindly 



THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 15 

ments at that place broke into miitinj. Similar examples oc- 
curred at otlier places. A serious loss of property lias befallen 
the missions of our own and other Churches, and a lamenta- 
ble loss of missionary lives, _^as our readers know ; but it was 
m foreign^ not as missionary, that these calamities overtook 
them ; with some exceptions, particularly as to native Chris- 
tians who fell into the hands of rebels, among their Moliam, 
medan countrymen. In the parts of the country where mis, 
sionaries have been longest at work, and most successful, 
there have been no disturbances ; while the Sepoys, of all the 
Hindus, knew least about missionary instruction. In the 
ranks, or in cantonments, they were no more accessible to 
itinerant missionaries, than are the soldiers of our own army 
to the labours of a street preacher. But no one, Ave believe, 
now ascribes this revolt to the missionaries. 

The evidence of a Mohammedan conspiracy is supposed by 
some to be beyond question ; and the fears of Hindu high caste 
people, lest they should violate their peculiar institution by 
the touch or taste of certain cartridges, are the cause assigned 
by others. We believe that both of these have been at work. 
There are large numbers of Mohammedans, who possess suffi- 
cient abilit}^, and are swayed by a spirit sufficiently malignant, 
to devise all that has taken place. But as this sect forms but 
a fraction of the population, it was only b}^ securing the 
cooperation of non-Musalman people that anything could be 
effected. This was to be done in but one way, by exciting 

trusted. The oppression endured by other classes of the people had as miiel! 
to do with the revolt of the Sepoys, as the sufferings of the unemployed in 
our cities with the Mormon rebellion. In sad truth, we have evils in our 
own land that are legal, such as the compulsory separation of husbands and 
wives, parents and children, at the sole will of their fellow-man, too often 
witnessed in some of our States, notwithstanding the deep grief thereby 
given to the Christianity of the country,— -legalized evils, which it would be 
hard to surpass by any thing oppressive in the government of India. Com- 
pared with these the cases of torture, practised by native officials in the Ma- 
dras presidency without the knowledge of the European officials, may be re- 
garded as lesser matters ; our own shortcomings may teach us lessons of 
charity towards our neighbors. These torture cases were very justly de- 
nounced by the public in India and England, on being brought to light. 



16 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

their fears of losing caste. The serving out of cartridges for 
the Minnie rifle, which were made of a new Icind of paper, or 
sized with some suspicious looking substance, became the oc- 
casion of the outbreak ; so far as the Hindus were concerned, 
it was to a large extent the cause of their revolt. Trifling as 
such a cause must seem to us, and therefore by many ridicul- 
ed as incredible, to the devout Hindu, especially to a man of 
high caste, it was a serious cause of alarm; nothing more se- 
rious, indeed, could have been presented to his mind. These 
are the now commonly received theories of the revolt. They 
both turn on the native army as their hinge of movement. 
But for this army, embodying large numbers of Mohammedans 
and high caste Hindus, thoroughly armed, well disciplined, 
stationed at commanding points, ready, inflammable, and 
needing but the right torch, no such outburst of fury and ruin 
could have been produced. 

Accessory causes were not wanting. The Bengal army 
^vas largely composed of men from classes priding themselves 
on their high caste and personal dignity ; its Ghoorkha and 
Sikh regiments mostly stood firm in their allegiance to the 
government, as did the Madras and Bombay armies, which 
enrolled men of all castes. Not only was the Bengal army 
chiefly formed from the classes most difficult to be governed, 
it was also recruited mainly from one part of the country, 
the provinces of Kohilcund and Oude. This army seems to 
have been without sufficient discipline, in part owing to the 
custom which has grown up, of taking the officers of greatest 
ability and Ivuowledge of the native language for extra- regi- 
mental service, leaving the men imder the charge of less com- 
petent officers. The blunder of strongly fortifying Delhi, and 
then leaving it in the charge of native troops, and allowing 
the titular Moghul emperor still to remain in the palace, must 
be enumerated, and can be accounted for only by calling to 
renicmbrancc the profound feeling of security which prevail- 
ed among all classes of Europeans. Of all places in India, 
tliis city is preeminently the seat of royalty; it ought proba' 
bly to be the political capital of the Bi'itish ; its possession is 
tlie visible emblem of sovereignty in the eyes of the people- 



THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 17 

For many centuries^ under successive dynasties, the country 
was governed at Delhi. Hence the conspirators at once set j 
up the titular emperor as the ostensible head of their move- | 
ment, and the Sepoys flocked to that city as by some peculiar 
instinct. Nor can we pass by the grave fault of keeping this 
native army out of the reach of Christian influences. "We 
refer not as proof of this to the recent censure inflicted on an 
officer for his missionary zeal. While no one can doubt the 
excellence of this gentleman, his peculiar religious views 
may perhaps have prompted to his engaging in methods of 
evangelization which few among ourselves would deem pro- 
per in an officer of our army. It is certain that other officers, 
among them the noble Havelock, have been equally zealous 
and not less publicly known as missionary Christian men, 
without having met with official rebuke. Our censure falls 
on the policy that has kept native Christians out of the army, 
and which even dismissed from active service a respectable 
man, whose only fault was his becoming a sincere convert to 
the Christian religion. This occurred forty years ago, but 
the policy of the government has not yet become more liberal. 
The dismissal of the Sepoy was a wretched truekling to the 
prej udices of caste among the soldiers, and it was equally de- 
grading to Europeans, as a practical acknowledgment that 
their religion was unworthy of respect. This irreligious, or 
not Christianly religious, policy has resulted in placing the 
chief defence of all British interests in the hands of those 
classes of natives who are the most prejudiced, the most proud, 
the most scornful, alike of their ov/n countrymen and their 
foreign rulers; and it now seems wonderful that the evil 
could have been so long tolerated. No considerations of fine 
stature and bearing in the men, no hope of conciliating such 
a class of influential people, no mistaken ideas of non-inter- 
ference with the religions of the country, should have been 
allowed to have a feather's weight against the sin and the 
risks of this line of policy. All Christian people will feel 
thankful that this system has received its death blow in this 
mutiny. 

This native army was the magazine, filled with combustible 



18 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

materials, and ready for explosion either by a Mohammedan 
or a Brahman torch ; why then keep up this magazine ? 
Thus reasons a correspondent of The Times] and the question 
is often asked, on both sides of the Atlantic, how and why 
is India held in subjection by its own sons? Is it not better 
to dispense with the Sepoys? Is it practicable to recruit 
another native army? These questions may all be answered 
by simply considering the facts of the case. The Hindus 
have no feeling, nor any principle, that would prevent their 
taking service as soldiers for anybody, provided certain per- 
sonal and caste matters are respected ; no idea of patriotism 
is violated thereby ; indeed the idea has little or no existence 
among them. The reasons for enlisting as soldiers are obvi 
ous. It has been customary, under all dynasties, foreign as 
well as native, for certain classes to be emploj^ed in this kind 
of life, and custom is all-powerful with Hindus. The land, 
moreover, is full of people, so that it is extremely dif&cult for 
vast multitudes to obtain the slenderest means of subsistence. 
A hard-working boatman or a field-hand can rarely earn two 
dollars a month, and must find his food and clothing out of 
that pittance ; a house-servant seldom receives more than two 
or three dollars a month, and "finds himself;" and these la- 
bouring classes are hired by the month or day, with no ex- 
pectation of support from their employers beyond their time 
of actual work. The Sepoys, besides their military dress and 
quarters in cantonments, have their four dollars a month, or 
twice as much as the same men could earn in any other em- 
ployment ; and at the end of a certain term of service they 
are sure of a pension, which enables them to spend the rest of 
life like "private gentlemen" amongst their friends. As -a 
class, they are the best conditioned people in India ; of all 
others, they have fared best under the present government- 
having ample and sure pay and pensions, which were often 
scanty and ill-paid under native or Moghul rulers. 

Almost equally strong are the reasons which induce the 
British to employ these mercenaries. The climate of the 
country is extremely injurious to most persons who have 
been brought up in northern latitudes, and particularly to the 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 19 

common European soldiers, who are too little governed by 
laws of reason or temperance. Hence a large pecuniary out- 
lay is necessary to provide suitable quarters for the men, 
besides the great expense of their conveyance to India — 
making every English soldier cost as much as would support 
a dozen of Sepoys ; and, after all, he is incapable of much 
service during a large part of the year. This mutiny com- 
menced at the beginning of the hot season, the time being 
well chosen, and for three months it was at the risk of health 
and life for English troops to be moved in order to suppress 
it. A European regiment cannot be expected to serve long; 
broken health, numerous casualities, and more than all, the 
weariness and disgust of a foreigner's life, whose only reason 
for staying in the country is a pecuniary one, combine to 
shorten the time of service of English troops, and make it 
almost a matter of necessity to employ native soldiers, pro- 
vided they can be taken into service with safety. 

On this point little doubt need be felt. With the lessons 
of the last few months in view, it will be easy to guard 
against the real danger of a Sepoy force. Soldiers will here- 
after be enlisted from several classes, and fewer from the 
ranks of the Brahmans and Mohammedans. Native Chris- 
tians will be welcomed. Discipline will be rigidly maintained. 
A stronger European force will occupy the commanding 
positions. And thenceforth we may anticipate little trouble 
from the native army. Eventually the native troops, like 
their countrymen of all classes, will be a Christian people, 
and their relations to their ofi&cers, as well as those of India 
to England, will at some future day be adjusted on the prin- 
ciples and the spirit of Christianity. May the day be not 
far distant ! 

This mutiny has turned public attention to India, and the 
relations between that country and Great Britain are now the 
general study of the western world. It is perceived that the 
army must be reconstructed, and many beheve that the gov- 
ernment itself should undergo the same process. There are 
obviously points of the deepest moment to be considered, if 
any general change is to be made ; and the danger of need- 



20 THE REVOLT OF .THE SEPOYS. 

less or injurious innovation is very serious. It is quite com- 
mon for English writers to complain of the present govern- 
ment, because the natives of the country are not admitted to 
a larger share in its administration ; some theorizers and some 
partizans would go so far as to resign the government alto- 
gether into native hands, and would have the British to with- 
draw from the country. To any one acquainted with the 
state of things, the latter measure will appear as simply a 
proposal to hand the Hindus over to the evils of anarchy. 
There is neither virtue nor intelligence among them for self- 
government, in any proper sense of that word. The govern- 
ment must remain in British hands, and must for a long time 
be based on the idea of conquest 'and not of a colony. As 
to admitting Europeans to reside in India, they could freely 
do so at any time in the last five and twenty years ; but the 
fierce sun and the drenching rains, the intense tropical climate, 
added to the already overcrowded condition of every avenue 
and lane of business in a land teeming with inhabitants, 
will always stand in the way of European colonization. The 
idea of colonial government for India will never be practi- 
cable. As a conquest, the British must continue to govern 
the countrj^, if they govern it at all, until, under the trans- 
forming power and genial influence of Christianity, the 
Hindus are prepared to govern themselves. In the mean 
time, their being subject to an enlightened Protestant power 
is of the greatest advantage to them. The interests of 
humanity and of civilization in India, and the door open for 
the spread of the gospel, alike depend on the connection 
which has been so strangely ordained by Providence between 
the British and the Hindus. 

The continuance of this relationship we regard as of the 
highest moment to the people of India ; but whether the East 
India Company should continue to be the organ of British 
power, is a question not settled. The Board of Control 
makes this Companj^ in some sense a part of the English 
home government ; but we believe that most matters of 
administration are left to the Company. Through the Board 
of Control, the public sentiment of the British people has 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 21 

been brought to bear on important subjects in the East. The 
Company itself, being composed of Englishmen, feels the 
impulse of the national life ; and its general course of policy 
bears witness to the same influences for good, which have 
governed the councils of its Directors. The abolition of the 
rite of the Suttee, and of the sacrifice of infant children to the 
Ganges, the relinquishment to so great an extent of the pat- 
ronage of heathen temples — a matter sometimes of difficulty 
because involving questions of vested and personal rights, the 
impulse given to education, the construction of railroads now 
in j)rogress, and of telegraph lines now complete, may be cited 
as examples of progress in the right direction, and of pro- 
gress under the guidance of public opinion at home. But if 
we do not misjudge, the original sin of the Company remains. 
It is no longer a trading Compan}^, but it is still a stock- 
holder's Company; the mercantile spirit still pervades its 
councils ; and its directors would be more than men, if thev 
did not often look rather to the value of their vested property 
than to the questions of statesmanship involved in the govern- 
ment of such a vast country. We intend to imply no injurious 
reflections on the directors or stockholders of the Company ; 
they are undoubtedly a body of most respectable persons — 
probably none are better worthy of confi^dence ; but their 
Company relationship itself embodies the principle of our 
objection to them as a governing power. In such hands, the 
government is likely to be influenced b}^ an English home- 
class policy, rather than by an Anglo-Indian national one ; 
and a narrow view of public events is likely to be taken. 
The welfare of the Hindu millions is in danger of being 
overlooked, if a broad consideration of their interests should 
involve great pecuniary expenditure. How else can we 
account for the limited force of European soldiers at the 
beginning of this revolt? The number was but little greater, 
we believe, than it was when the rule of the Company did 
not extend beyond the Sutlej, and did not include the king- 
dom of Oude. To the same category must be reduced, at 
least in some degree, the half-and-half measure of employing 
the officers of the army on non-military service. The vast 



22 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

cultivation of opium, fostered and extended by a peculiar 
government monopoly, is a still more signal example of the 
mercantile spirit of the Company, This great evil could 
hardly have grown up, if the country had been governed 
directly by the British people. The crown of England 
would not in that case have been stained with the fumes of 
opium smoking in the land of Sinim,* Apart from these 
things, the Company seems to us a * complicated piece of the 
machinery of government, one in which evils or errors of 

* It is but fair to admit that wise and good men are not all agreed as to 
the opium question. lu a note to an able series of letters reprinted from 
The Times on Indian topics, from a gentleman of high social and 
political position, who is at the same time a warm friend of Christian 
missions, it is said : " The tax levied upon opium in India, by means of the 
monopoly, and the tax upon spirituous liquors in this country [England] are 
based upon the same principle — that of placing the greatest possible check 
ao-ainst consumption, by carrying the tax to the highest point at which 
it can be maintained without encouraging smuggling." On this view of the 
subject, the government connection with the opium traffic tends to restrict 
its sale as compared with its extent if the monopoly were overthrown ; in 
other words, free trade in opium would increase its cultivation. 

The rules of political economy, however, are not mathematical axioms, 
equally true in all nations ; what is expedient in England or America may be 
pernicious in China or India. But we prefer to look at the opium trafiSc as 
necessarily productive of great moral evils. It is greatly worse in its effects 
upon its victims than the African slave trade. The poor slaves are often, 
through the merciful providence of God, in bringing good out of evil, 
placed in better circumstances than they were in before their captivity ; but 
the victims of opium smoking are debased in mind, body, and estate, — 
made wretched in this life and miserable in eternity. We can conceive of no 
good result from this traffic, except in a small degree through the apotheca- 
ry's scales ; while its evils are gigantic. If ever a case existed in which a 
Christian government should interpose its power to put down traffic of any 
kind, this we believe is such a case. We honor the British government for 
its humane efforts to suppress the slave trade, and we hope soon to honor it 
for suppressing the cultivation and export of opium. 

Contrary to the opinion of our friend, quoted at the beginning of this 
note, we have the conviction that but for the influence and means of gov- 
ernment, in aid of the native cultivators, the growth of the poppy would be 
very limited in India. It is said with much confidence by well-informed 
persons, that the opium districts are admirably adapted to the growth 
of cotton. This should be well considered. 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 28 

administration can easily be committed', while they cannot be 
readily corrected, and one that promises no advantage over a 
simpler form of government, amenable directly to the British 
crown, like that of the island- of Ceylon. 

The great question remains to be considered — What place 
shall be given to Christianity in the policy of government ? 
One thing that all must hope to see is, that the attitude of the 
government shall hereafter be friendly, and not hostile, to our 
holy religion. For long years the East India Company threw 
its vast influence against the Christian religion. A striking 
example of this has been given already in the removal of the 
Christian Sepoy from his regiment. The obstacles interposed 
in the way of missionary efforts were most serious, so that 
the first English missionaries had to seek refuge in the Danish 
possessions at Serampore, and the first American missionaries 
were expelled from the country. The countenance given to 
some of the idolatrous festivals, the support of certain heathen 
temples, the presents bestowed on the hideous idol of Jugger- 
nath, the enforced attendance of Christian officers and troops 
to salute pagan gods on some occasions, were all positive 
offences against the God of heaven, which no consideration 
of worldly policy can justify. The exclusion of the Word of 
God from government schools rests on a somewhat different 
footing, not unlike that which tends to the same result in too 
many of our own public schools. Yet Christian men must 
contend, that both here and everywhere the first and best of 
all books should occupy a chief place in the instruction of 
youth ; and at the least, that it should not be excluded by 
the authority of Christian governors, while the Koran and 
the Shaster are freely admitted. The practical result of edu- 
cation without Christian influence is shown in lurid colors 
in the progress of the Sepoy revolt. In this country there 
can hardly be such education,- religion may be formally 
excluded from the school-room, but, like the atmosphere, its 
influence is felt in all places, and direct religious instruction 
is given in other ways to supply the great defect of our pub- 
lic school teaching. It is otherwise in a heathen country, 
and Nana Sahib and the Nawab of Furrukhabad are the 



24 THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

monsters born of a false religion and nurtured in scliools where 
everything is taught but that which it most concerns the 
scholar to learn. We have thus stated this matter as it must 
be viewed by those who are advocates of our' own common 
school system. On the higher and true theory of education 
we do not here enter. The intervention of government in 
the education of a heathen people is a difficult subject I 
neither is the difficulty materially lessened on the "Church 
and State " theory of education. 

It has given us no pleasure to enumerate these errors and 
grave offences of the government ; and we are happy to be- 
lieve that the worst is over ; a more liberal and Christian 
course would have been followed, even if the great argument 
of this mutiny had not been thrown into the scale. Hereafter 
Christian views of duty will not be ignored as to these things. 
Indeed, for years past, the friends of missions have had little 
cause of complaint, and many reasons for gratitude in the 
general course of conduct adopted by the government. But 
the question remains — What shall be done with Christianity 
itself? To read the discussions of not a few among our- 
selves, one might suppose that we had become advocates of 
enforcing the claims of religion by the authority of the State. 
The government should be a Christian government, we are 
told ; it should break down caste ; it should destroy the 
Mohammedan mosques. As well might we require our 
government to destroy the Romanist churches, or break up the 
religious fooleries of the Shakers. The most we can ask the 
British government to do as a government, is, not to encour- 
age Heathenism or Mohammedanism, much less to discourage 
Christianity ; to afford equal protection to all ; to tolerate no 
offences against property or life in any ; and then, with a 
fair field before the Church, we have no misgiving as to her 
success — The Hindus shall become Christians. 

This doctrine is not strong enough for our Covenanter 
friends here at home, nor will it satisfy our Church and State 
l:>rethren in Great Britain. This is not the time to discuss its 
truth ; but, adverting to the tone of a large part of the 
public press, it is timely and important for us to lift up a 



THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS, 25 

friendly voice of warning against any attempt to make 
Ciiristianity a part of the government in India, in any sucli 
sense as to lead to the employment or the support by the 
authorities of agencies for the Christian instruction and 
conversion of the natives. The sure result of doing so 
would be to promote a mercenaiy profession of our holy 
faith by multitudes who would still be heathen at heart. Let 
the example of the State support of Christianity in Ceylon 
by the Dutch be well weighed : the Christian profession of 
almost all the numerous converts disappeared as soon as the 
Dutch government was withdrawn, and the large churches 
were entirely deserted by their former crowds of worshipers. 
It will be a sad event for the cause of Christ in India, when 
the government shall take our religion into union with the 
State, for the native population. On the British theory of 
this subject, no objection ought to be made to the support of 
bishops and chaplains for British born people living in India; 
but it is by no means obvious that the ecclesiastical establish- 
ment ought to be much enlarged. There are already three 
bishops for a population of some fifty thousand, very many 
of whom are not Episcopalians. It is simply fallacious to 
speak of the diocese of the Bishop of Calcutta as including 
all the inhabitants of the Bengal Presidency. The venerable 
Bishop Wilson has in fact the spiritual oversight of a much 
smaller number of souls, ministers, and congregations, than 
are under the supervision of Bishop Potter, of New York. 
This, however, is ground that we do not \vish to travel 
over.* 

* We trust that our En,<?lish Episcopal friends, if they cannot adopt our 
Presbyterian views of " the office of a bishop," may nevertheless find in- 
creasing need of Episcopal services by reason of the blessing of God upon 
the missionary work of their Church in India. The growth of their excel, 
lent missions is a reason for devout thanksgiving to all Christians. It is of 
deep moment that in the missions of all denominations of Christians, the 
measures now adopted should look steadily to the end of placing the whole 
support and government of the native Church of India eventually in the 
hands of its own members. And in order to this, it is important to guard 
against now introducing the expensive ways of Western Churches among the 
Christians of the East. The splendor^of an English or Anglo-Indian bishop- 
ric would be little suited to the pecuniary means of a purely Hindu diocese. 



26 THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

On the momentous subject of tlie relations of government 
to the Clii'istian religion among the natiyes^ we wish to guard 
against the adoption of uliru views. Allowance must be 
made for the peculiar state of things. Some of the excep- 
tionable relations of the authorities to heathen customs, for 
instance, result from the fact that the great mass of the people 
are not Christians. There are certain heathen and Mohamme- 
dan festivals universallj observed, when it is customary to 
close the public offices ; ancl it would seem to be useless to 
keep them open — indeedy impracticable often, because the 
clerks and laborers would not stay, and to compel them to 
remain, would be to violate their conviction of duty. Other 
examples might be given. What we have asked of the 
government, however, would not fall under the ©ensure, of 
going too far, and would lead to the correction of some great 
evils. We accord great praise to the British for what they 
have already done in this matter^ in the suppression of 
thuggism aad murders in the name of religion, in the protec- 
tion of converts from violence and the loss of property, in 
maintaining the right of widows to re-marry, and in other 
things of like kind ; but it deserves to be considered whether 
further progress cannot be made in the same direction, so as to 
render the immoralities and crimes of heathenism more fully 
amenable to the law. The influence of the government, 
moreover, can, no doubt, be so wielded as to discourage caste ; 
and this would greatly benefit all classes. Christianity 
should be placed, at least, on equal footing with other reli- 
gions in the schools, and native Christians £hould be eligible 
equally with others for emploj^ment in the public service.^- 
The Lord's day should be observed by all Christian officers 

* We learn wiih high satisfaction that Sir John Lawrence, the able 
ruler of the Punjab, has for several months opened the door for the em- 
ployment of native Christians in gOYernment service ; see the admirable 
letter of R. Montgomery, Esq. quoted in the Christian Times of January 
4th. Thus a complete revolution has been already effected in this matter in 
a large part of the country, and without disturbance or complaint. The 
unsettled state of so many provinces might have delayed the adoption of 
this righteous and truly wise measure, if men of less ability and Christiaii 
worth had been entrusted with the charge of public aSkirs in the Fmyab. 



THE EEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 27 

of government, higli and low. Modest as are tliese require- 
ments of the State, their concession would exert a mighty 
influence on the people of India. The rest we would leave 
to the Missionary Church. The Gospel must be the great 
Reformer of the Hindus. 

It is of comparatively little moment what form of organi- 
zation may be adopted for the army or for the government ; 
neither is it essential to the progress of the gospel in what 
way the relations of the government to religion may be 
framed together. We must not rely on human government 
for the conversion of souls; nor make too much of its protec- 
tion in the missionary work, as the last few montlis have 
shown. We should remember that more depends on the 
men who administer public affairs, than on the government 
itself. In this respect the Hindus have reason to be thankful 
for so many of the best men of England among their present 
judges, and other civil and military rulers. If the greater 
number do not themselves act under the solemn impression 
of religious things, this is but what we complain of in our 
own country. Who expects the assembling of our members, 
of Congress to do much for the promotion of evangelical 
religion in the federal city, or in the country at large ? It 
is truly a cause of thankfulness that so many of the English 
in India are God-fearing men, and that the number of such 
men, and especially of like-minded Avomen, is on the increase. 

In no country in the world is there a nobler sphere for the 
exercise of all benevolent influences, than is set before our 
English friends in India — we refer to them now as Christians, 
and not as servants of the government. Elevated far 
above the Hindus by their position, and still more by their 
religion and its blessed civilization, they have daily opportu- 
nities of exemplifying the gospel, and of showing that its 
Author is worthy of universal praise. It is here that the most 
serious shortcomings of Europeans in India are to be 
witnessed. The holy life is too often wanting. The licen- 
tious natives too often fail to learn lessons of purity. The 
worth of the soul is too seldom appreciated, the sin of 
idolatry too rarely set forth. Without specifying particulars, 



28 THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

however, we wish to advert, to the too common tone of 
feeling manifested by Europeans towards the natives — it is? 
we fear, far too commonly that of contempt. In saying this? 
we remember our own sin, and it furnishes the best illustra- 
tion of our meaning when we say, that the contemptuous 
feeling which prevails in this country, and especially in our 
northern States, towards the coloured people, is too much the 
feeling of Europeans towards the natives. With us, this 
feeling may be indulged with safety, so far as the vengeance of 
man is concerned, and this only makes it the more unmanly ; 
but in India nothing could well be more impolitic, as it tends 
to alienate the multitude from the few, and to hinder the 
growth of kindly feelings — everywhere so important in the 
intercourse of life.* Our main objection to this contemp- 
tuous spirit, whether shown towards Negroes or Hindus, is 
that it is unchristian. From this point of view, the hauteur, 
distance, superciliousness, or even indifference, to say nothing 
of rude treatment sometimes, which are shown towards the 
natives, are all censurable as wrong in themselves, and as 
standing in the way of the great beneiits which the govern- 
ing classes might confer on the people. If animated by some 
measure of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, a noble destiny 
is before every European in India. He may hold forth the 
Word of Life, and confer both temporal and spiritual good on 
those who are poor indeed, and thus gain the blessing ot 
them that are ready to perish. 

We take leave of these things, and return to the Sepoy Re- 
volt, in order to finish this paper in the view of its solemn 
lessons. The fall of Delhi has been announced, and with this 
must fall the vain hopes of the Sepoys. There may be local 
conflicts, and perhaps a scattered or guerilla warfare for a 
few months, but no general war can be maintained, nor any 
serious opposition to the re-establishment of the British power. 
With the exception of Oude, which may remain unsettled for 
some time, the disturbed districts of the country will soon en- 
joy repose ; the mutiny of the troops will probably subside 
as rapidly as it burst forth. When the smoke of its fires is 

* See Notes o^f India, by the Hon. F. J. Suore. London, 1837. 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 29 

cleared away, lamentable losses will be seen, but tbere will 
also be found much reason for thanksgiving to the Almighty- 
These events have had their commission to fulfil, of judg- 
ment now, and of mercy in the end. We do not view them 
as the first incidents in the great conflict between Christiani- 
ty and Paganism or Mohammedanism, for the possession of 
India. We do not see in the rage of the Sepoys a general 
and matured design to expel the Christian religion from the 
country. Most of the common soldiers were probably govern- 
ed by their fears of losing caste, by their hopes of gain from 
plunder, and by the offer of higher wages in the service of 
" the King of Delhi" — the latter inducements prevailing in 
the more recent cases of mutiny. The leading spirits in the 
movement were governed by the purpose of expelling foreign- 
ers from the country ; and the Mohammedans, among both 
leaders and others, would no doubt have the further purpose 
of expelling Christianity at the same time. To this extent 
the insurrection was anti-Christian, and, of course, also anti- 
missionary ; in its main and great design, it was on the part 
of its leaders a political movement, having for its object the 
restoration of the government to a Mohammedan dynasty. 

If we do not see the beginning of the great conflict between 
Christianity and Hinduism, so far as men are concerned, we 
do nevertheless see that conflict, commenced long ago, and 
now going with fearful earnestness to its end. We recognize 
in these wonderful and terrible events a deeper and a darker 
agency than that of man. We see the presence of the Great 
Adversary, permitted in the wise purposes of God to triumph, 
though but for a short time. He succeeded once in making 
enemies to act as friends when the Lord of life was to be cru- 
cified ; he has again persuaded those who were enemies to act 
together ; Brahmans and Maulavis have acted in concert, not 
seeing in their blind passions that their success would lead 
but to the clashing of irreconcilable elements. In the event 
of their success, the Evil One doubtless rejoiced in hoping 
that it would not be long before the land would again mourn 
over its slaughtered inhabitants as in ancient days ; he no 
doubt believed that the Hindu myriads, remembering the 



so THE KEVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 

70,000 lives that were sacrificed on a single da}^ by a Moghul 
emperor, when the Broadway of Delhi was deep in human 
blood, would rise in their might and sweep away the followers 
of the False Prophet. All this was foreseen by the great 
enemy, and his policy looked to the triumph of Paganism. 
We see then in these events the great conflict between the 
Prince of Darkness and Immanuel, the issue publicly joined 
for supremacy among the millions of the East. Already is 
the Evil One put to the worst, and the triumphs of the gos- 
pel will henceforth be peaceful and assured. 

The Christian Church should humbl}^ accept the severe dis- 
cipline of these events. TIow have they rebuked her apathy 
to the conversion of this vast body of heathens ! Her mar- 
tyred sons and daughters now plead with her to arise in her 
Saviour's spirit and strength, to lean no longer on any arm 
of flesh — not even on the power of a noble Protestant govern- 
ment, and to enter with true earnestness on the work set 
before her. It is for larger efforts, for a holier service, for 
greater success than ever before, that the Sepoy" Eevolt speaks 
to the Missionary Church. The land was open before, but 
there were great obstacles to be overcome. The land is still 
open, and the. obstacles are to be soon taken out of the way. 
Soon will Islamism and Brahmanism be seen lying like Dagon 
before the ark of God ; these two main native barriers will 
be prostrated. The foreign barrier, the irreligious policy of 
the government, must also give way before the public opinion 
of Christian England. And a field more inviting than ever 
before will be spread before our Missionary Boards ; a louder 
call than ever before will be heard for labourers to be sent 
into the harvest. 

A few months ago the Hindu Sepoj^s were almost unknown 
to many of the members of our churches ; but God has em- 
ployed them, and overruled their awful crimes, to call forth 
an extraordinary interest in the Missions of our Church in 
India. Those missions were all in the provinces that have 
been desolated by this revolt. They were larger in extent 
than the missions of sister Churches, They were the first 
missions in those regions that were formed on a somewhat ex- 



THE REVOLT OF THE SEPOYS. 31 

tended scale. They liave been marked by signal providences 
from the beginning. They have received the special seal of 
the approval of God in the work of the Holy Spirit — in souls 
converted, sanctified, and received into glory ; in converts 
still living, some of whom have been tried, and have kept 
the faith in the midst of awful perils ; and in the grace given 
to our missionary brethren in the terrible scenes through 
which God has called them to pass. We call to mind the 
noble testimony of Mrs. Freeman, one of our Christian sisters, 
as one w(jrthy of the best age of the martyrs ; and we trust 
it was the feeling of all the missionaries of our Church, In 
immediate sight of appalling danger, she was enabled to write 
these ever memorable words: "Our little church and our- 
selves Avill be the first attacked ; but we are in God's hands, 
and we know that he reigns. We have no place to flee to for 
shelter, but under the covert of his wings, and there we are 
safe. Not but he may suffer our bodies to be slain; and if 
he does, we know he has wise reasons for it. I sometimes 
think our deaths may do more good than we could do in all 
our lives ; if so, his will be done. Should I be called to lay 
down my life, do not grieve, dear sisters, that I came here ; 
for most joyfully will I die for him who laid down his life for 
me." God be praised for this testimony ! Let the same 
spirit pervade not only the missionary body, but the churches 
at home, and these missions, restored and enlarged, will be- 
come like fountains of living water in a desert land. Our 
English brethren have under consideration the proposal to 
erect Memorial Churches at Delhi and Cawnpore, and all 
Christians in every land will sympathize with the object. 
We could fervently wish to see also a Memorial Mission Sta- 
tion founded by our Church at Bithoor. It would be a 
memorial of our beloved brethren, a witness to the forgiving 
and benevolent spirit of our religion, and a sacred means of 
making known its blessings to them that sit in darkness and 
the shadow of death. 



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